sports briefs for April 2

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Cleveland Indians pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez has been suspended for five games and fined by Major League Baseball for intentionally throwing at Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki during a spring training game.

The penalty was announced Monday by MLB.

Jimenez will serve his suspension during the first five games of the season unless he asks the players’ association to appeal the decision by MLB senior vice president Joe Garagiola Jr.

Before the penalty was announced, Jimenez said he wasn’t going to apologize to Tulowitzki after hitting his former Rockies teammate on the left elbow Sunday.

***

Highest-ranked American, Fish, out of Davis Cup

Hours after losing his most recent match, Mardy Fish woke up in the middle of the night feeling ill and immediately went to be checked by a doctor. He saw another doctor the next day, too, and the diagnosis was fatigue.

Told he needed to rest, and citing what the U.S. Tennis Association called a “minor health scare,” the No. 9-ranked Fish pulled out of this week’s Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and France in Monte Carlo.

“We don’t want to get exactly into what the symptoms were. He didn’t feel normal. He said, ‘Hey, something’s wrong here.’ He was concerned about it,” Fish’s agent, John Tobias, said in a telephone interview Monday. “His body got out of whack, caused by a number of different variables … (but) they ruled out any potential long-term issues.”

Fish, the highest-ranked American, lost 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday to Juan Monaco in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Florida. The 30-year-old Fish appeared to be fine physically and said afterward he would have preferred more taxing conditions for the afternoon match.

***

Atlanta Braves reliever Martinez charged with DUI

ATLANTA — Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Cristhian Martinez was arrested early Monday and charged with drunken driving, days before the team’s regular season starts.

Martinez was charged with DUI, impeding the flow of traffic and improper lane change after police say he was stopped on Interstate 85 in Gwinnett County. A test showed his blood alcohol level registered at 0.13, according to a police report. The legal limit to drive in Georgia is 0.08.

Martinez was initially stopped after two officers spotted him driving around 40 mph and erratically at around 2:45 a.m. on Monday, according to a police report. They decided to give Martinez a Breathalyzer test after noticing his eyes were bloodshot, watery and glazed and that his speech was slurred, the report said.

Gwinnett County officer C. Bailey said in the report that Martinez told him he had one beer and was driving slowly to be safe. He said when Martinez was pressed on how much alcohol he had consumed, the reliever repeatedly said “I’m good.”

When Martinez stepped out of the car, he staggered and had to catch himself on the vehicle, the report said. He then dropped his key on the ground, and soon told officers he actually had two drinks, the report said.

***

Canisius hires former URI coach Jim Baron

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jim Baron is returning to western New York to face the familiar challenge of rebuilding a struggling men’s basketball program — this time at Canisius College.

The midtown-Buffalo-based school announced Monday that Baron had signed a five-year contract and will be formally introduced at a news conference on Tuesday. The move comes a month after Baron was fired after 11 years at Rhode Island following a 7-24 finish this season.

Despite the Rams’ recent struggles, Baron was a three-time Atlantic-10 Conference coach of the year at Rhode Island, enjoyed six 20-win seasons and in 2010 led the program to a final four NIT berth.

The 58-year-old returns to familiar territory, having previously coached and played at St. Bonaventure, located a 90-minute drive from Buffalo. He also opened his coaching career in nearby Rochester. Overall, Baron has a 390-367 career record, and earned two NCAA tournament berths, in 1991 at St. Francis, Pa., and in 2000 at St. Bonaventure.

At Canisius, Baron replaces Tom Parrotta, who was fired last month after a 5-25 finish and after going 64-121 over six seasons. And he inherits a perennial loser, as the Golden Griffins have gone 114-217 over the past 11 years, including 60-138 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference games.

***

Jets may be in mix for HBO’s “Hard Knocks”

NEW YORK — Fasten your seat belts, coach Rex Ryan, Tim Tebow and the New York Jets might be ready for a sequel on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

Jets owner Woody Johnson says he’s heard talk that HBO is interested in signing up the team for its training-camp documentary show. He’s not ruling it out.

Johnson said Monday the team has not received a “formal invitation,” but “when we do, we will take a look at it.”

HBO said there will be a “Hard Knocks” before the 2012 season begins following a hiatus last year because of the lockout. HBO spokesman Greg Domino said “we do not discuss the process.”

Speculation began after the Jets acquired Tebow in a trade with the Broncos.

Asked if there have been informal discussions with HBO, Johnson said, “yeah” but “it’s a formal invitation that we can respond to, not an informal (one).”

Johnson, who made his comments at the NFL’s new pop-up store featuring new team apparel, said the Jets’ 2010 appearance on the show brought “tremendous value” and that the feedback was only positive. The Jets went on to reach the AFC championship game.

If invited, Johnson said there would be a discussion about a return appearance.

***

New charges against Yankees GM stalking suspect

NEW YORK — A woman accused of stalking and shaking down New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman peppered him and his office with odd phone calls, posing as other people and disguising her voice as a man’s, a new indictment says.

Louise Neathway also called Cashman’s estranged wife, according to the indictment, obtained Monday. The indictment adds a slew of charges to the initial stalking, grand larceny and harassment counts Neathway has faced since her February arrest.

Neathway, a 36-year-old medical sales worker originally from Great Britain, now also is contending with charges that range from lying about her income on an application for her Manhattan apartment to lying to the grand jury — and from squeezing Cashman for thousands of dollars to harassing her ex-husband and another man.

Neathway, in her grand jury testimony last month, said she has “done nothing of (a) criminal nature toward Mr. Cashman or his family,” according to a partial transcript in the indictment, which was handed up last week.

Neathway is being held on $300,000 bond. She’s due to be arraigned in a Manhattan court on April 11 on the new indictment.